Since April or May, I've brought back a monthly trestle board for my lodge. It's a small thing, generally 2 pages long. But it has a message from the east, desk of the secretary and a calendar. I also try to put an interesting article up or message from the Deputy to the Grand Master in there. It takes maybe 1 hour of my day, once a month to make such a thing. I send it via email, because to print, stuff and stamp nearly 100 letters would take more time and be costly.
But maybe I should? What about the guys who don't get email. If I made something bigger, should I add an extra article or 2? Maybe I should make it a district trestle board and work with the Deputy? People have told me they like the idea, but would they actually read it or would it end up in the trash?
New Mexico has started using Grandview. I recieve no less then 2 emails from that Grand Lodge a week, telling me about things happening in the Jurisdiction or sharing cool stuff.
We definitely under utilize Grandview in my current Jurisdiction. Perhaps they could create and email a quarterly trestle board?
Your certainly correct, in that communication has stalled in the Jurisdiction overall.
It is awesome that you are bringing back the trestle board! I think that having one makes a tremendous difference, and with the continuing decline of Social Media, I think it is going to be truly essential quite soon.
There was a time, not all that long ago really, when local media (newspapers primarily) covered the happenings of community organizations in their area. Including Freemasonry. But, that went away along with the local paper, and we collectively ignored it. We ignore the declining reach of our posts on Social Media at our peril, because once it goes we have nothing left. Unless we build its replacement now, as you are doing.
Honestly, I don't really believe that we have members who don't have email. I remember, for years, I would go to our Annual Communication, and Brothers would stand up railing against whatever new technology the Grand Lodge was using. 'I don't have email.' 'I don't have a computer.' 'I don't have internet.' 'There isn't any internet where we live.' But, those guys would always crack me up, because I'd see them on Facebook. It isn't that they didn't have a computer, internet access, and email, it was that they didn't want to use email. All of that complaining did stop after the pandemic, when most were forced by circumstance to embrace Zoom.
But, your larger point is well taken. I know that Emeth doesn't reach nearly as many people as it could, because lots of Masons would never go out looking for such a thing. I've been thinking about having business cards printed with a QR code that would link into here. Maybe something like that could work in your situation?
Or an occasional Zine? Damn, I've always wanted to make a Zine. Print them in limited numbers, and charge a fee for each copy so that your costs were covered. A signed and numbered type of thing. 1/50 $10 and $1 for shipping.
Last night on Rummer & Grapes we were joined by a sitting Grand Master of another Jurisdiction. He too mentioned some ways Grandview is being utilized in his Jurisdiction that I think we would do well to pursue here. It is an awesome tool, if we will use it.
I think that in this day of so much coming to us electronically, some people really value the tangible. And would be willing to pay for it. (Thus covering your/lodge costs.)
I really like the design of the Scottish Rite SJ's old magazine, the New Age. We have a really big collection of those at Centralia from a century ago. I think that 'look' could do really well for a Masonic focused Zine.
I don't know how to post a photo here in a comment, so I'll slide on over to Chat and put a photo of an old one there for you to see.
Of course, reading those really old New Age mags and comparing them to the current offerings shows just how far out communications have fallen over a century. Years ago I wrote a presentation about Freemasonry in Mexico, during the Mexican revolution. I used articles from those old magazines, published as the events were happening, for a lot of that research. The coverage of Masonry south of the border was truly extensive. Today we are lucky to learn what is happening state to state.
While I am sure that your experience with "nobody reads them" is valid, I for one am part of that outlier I guess, as I do read them when published. When they were printed, I was always disappointed that I could never find a copy. When it started arriving digitally, I was happier, but still preferred the printed versions - if I ever found one. I don't know who had them, our secretary never advertised that he had copies, and if it was the district deputy, they never said anything either.
Edited to add: I was always disappointed that our district deputies in the area almost never contributed to the newsletter as well.
It's also the same with the printed GL team photo poster. I know they exist, but I never see them anywhere. You would think GL would at least send a copy out to the lodges, but I've only seen a couple in my eleven years of masonry. I don't even know if they still make them. I would assume those posters were meant to match names with faces and the lodge was supposed to post them in the tyler's area or something. Didn't ever see any except perhaps once.
How it worked back then was the GL would mail a bunch of them to the DDGM's, and we were to take them to the Stated Meetings we attended, distributing them there.
I carried those things around for two years and couldn't pay people to take one.
I actually have a pretty distinct memory of one of my Lodge Brothers, W. Harwood. He was really, really old, and could be super ornery. But I remember he came up to me after a Lodge meeting at which I once again tried unsuccessfully to get people to take one. He took one, and said something about doing so in order to keep me from feeling bad.
That said, I always used to read them too. But, that's because I'm a weirdo who will read anything!
I don't know about the Team Photo Poster thing. I know that they used to be done here, but I don't know if they are still done here. I didn't have one during my term.
While I obviously cannot speak to Freemasonry specifically, my instincts tell me we are in a transitional phase when it comes to disseminating and consuming news. People are getting sick of (traditional?) social media, but are still not interested in returning to the (genuinely traditional) print outlets. As such, they are a bit in-limbo.
I think the answer is going to be in emailed newsletters, because they are convenient (everyone has at least one email address, after all) and people can get selective about whom they choose to trust. I also think they will be the answer to the dearth of locally-based news, and local journalists (and their fellow citizens) just need to catch up to that.
As such, while it may seem a little 'dry' right now, I think - with what you have here - you are not only in the prime position for the future, but to also successfully advise your fellow Freemasons... when they catch up with what you already know.
My only issue is that with email, I have a hard time communicating with less tech savvy folks. It's maddening to me to send someone an email, never hear back, and when I next see them and ask them about it, they claim to have never saw it.
Now, as an IT specialist that manages my work's email system, I assure you that the mail was delivered. It may have been put is a spam folder, but I know they got it. They probably just deleted it without reading it.
I understand that frustration, Glenn - it happens all the time to me with my own newsletter.
I do think, however, that many are still in the mode of treating their email like a junk-drawer instead of their desk-drawer (or tool-box), where they have items they actually need daily; at this point, they only really go into the junk-drawer when they need something from it, like how they treat email.
As they get more and more fed-up with social media, however, I think that mentality will shift, and they will start treating the email box with more attention. At least that is my hope, anyhow :-)
I'm not sure that we can assume that our open rates here on Substack are accurate. I never actually open any emails, but I read almost everything I receive. I just do it on the web instead.
The pandemic happened, and Chris and Ed and I were sitting around talking about how we could possibly communicate with the Craft while we weren't allowed to meet. I think it was Ed who suggested video and podcasting.
We all know that I'm far too goofy looking to want to do much video, and my voice is rather insane, so podcasting seemed out to me. Plus, I didn't know how to do those things. So, I decided to start a blog. I've blogged since the days when Blogger was the very height of technology, so I knew how to do that, and I figured I was good at it.
So, I snagged some good modern blogging software and had at it.
But then, shortly after I started said blog, our Grand Secretaries wife sent me an email she had received from a fairly famous media personality. And that's how I discovered this whole Substack thing. And how cool was that! A blog, with the posts flying out via email! Friggin' Awesome! So I moved the whole deal over here.
And I was content for a long time. I subscribed to the famous reporter whose report I'd been forwarded. And I subscribed to a handful of others that I encountered over time. It was great!
But, then the Substack people invented the Notes thing. And because I was a 'bestseller' here, they opened it up early to me.
And I started finding all of these superb writers. Amazing writers. So I subscribed, and subscribed, and subscribed, and subscribed some more.
Then they opened Notes up to everyone. And I found more great writers to subscribe too!
So, this is all a really long way of saying that I now understand the email pain. It's a rolling flood that never ends!
But, luckily the delete button is always handy. And needed, because I don't read all of the Substacks I subscribe to (105 as of today) in my email client, rather I read them on the web.
The thing is though, I would put much of the writing here on par quality wise with the most prestigious publications. There is some truly wonderful work being done here.
Thank you very much! I'm glad that you found value in the piece.
Ultimately, I think you are correct. This model, electronic newsletter delivery, supported by voluntary subscription revenue is the future. Not necessarily Substack (although it is by far the best platform for it at this point) but something that works very much like Substack.
Subscriptions to provide revenue, delivery via email, or web, or app. No reliance on advertising.
And I agree, it could work for local media too. Once the local reporters stop suffering for peanuts and embrace it!
We made a terrible error, collectively, when we decided long ago that the best way to pay for media was to allow platforms to take all our data. I think people are waking up to that now, and we will see more willingness to pay with dollars instead of privacy.
I've been pushing against a wall on this topic in my Lodge for quite some time now.
You're talking about communication at the Grand Lodge level, and I'm seeing problems just within the Lodge.
In my Lodge we send out a monthly Trestle Board newsletter (digital for the last few years) and a weekly (if not more often) email blast. The trestle board is likely never read by more than half of the Lodge members, and I'd give highly skewed odds that the email blasts aren't either. The reason is likely easy to pinpoint. Email is no longer useful as a communications tool - people get too much spam and as a result email gets ignored.
In an effort to counter this, I stood up a Slack server for my Lodge. I want this to be a place where the Officers and Committees can plan and work to improve the long-range work on the Lodge. Within 24 hours of setting up the server I had several brothers, particularly Past Masters, say what an unproductive waste of time it would be and how they were certain it wouldn't increase engagement.
So, I asked, "What, more of the same then?"
The answer, "The people who want to be involved are involved."
We're not going to focus on improving? We're not going to focus on teaching? We're not going to focus on trying to identify the things that might motivate people to pay attention to the communications?
The only way we can answer any of the questions above in a positive way is by constantly trying to meet people where they are and where they find value. If no one finds value anymore, then an email is useless to that person. Sure, others may find it useful, but not everyone. If Facebook, or Instagram or some other Social Media platform is the right place for engagement, then that's useful too. But when you want to get people involved in collaboration you need a place or a mechanism to collaborate, and that place can't be emails they won't read. It can't be social media where we don't want the world to know what we're doing to get ready for the annual parade, or we don't want to publicly discuss the Lodge's education charity or scholarship program.
We can't leave the collaboration to be done by those who "want to be involved" because those Brothers tend to be older, and the certain burden of time will eventually arrive for all of them. We have to find new ways to collaborate that work for modern workers who come to labor in our Temples.
Grandview is a great start for Grand Lodges sharing information, but that only works if your Grand Lodge is committed to sharing information well. That means aligning resources with the correct user types so that Master Masons can access a copy of the current Constitution and Statutes. That means setting permissions so that committee members can access the information they need on Lodge members. It means that the Grand Secretary dedicates himself to setting it up correctly every month as information changes. I know in my jurisdiction this is not being done well.
There is no one panacea for improving communication. We have to embrace a wide variety of tools to engage with our Lodges and Grand Lodges in ways that get information to every man wherever he is paying attention.
You are right, I was mainly writing this from a Grand Lodge perspective, but it certainly applies to individual Lodges as well. If we can't get our message out in an email that people will read, or a post that they will come across, we are in a real bad way. And it is getting worse.
I would argue that if an email is consistently compelling enough, people will read it. But, it has to be compelling, and that is hard to do.
But, I think that Lodges have other options. You mentioned Slack. I'm aware of Lodges using Telegram too. And I have to imagine that there are plenty of diverse platforms that result in private group meetings for collaboration.
But, Brothers have to be willing to sign up and join in. And as you say, that can be a real problem. I'm not sure how to solve it if a Mason says that he cares about the future of the Lodge, but is not willing to learn something new that will help to ensure a bright future for the Lodge. And indeed, our Second Degree implores us to be lifelong learners. Perhaps we need to emphasize that.
Switching to Grandview, I too think that my Jurisdiction could do a better job utilizing it. And, honestly, I think we will get there, eventually. But I see a couple big stumbling blocks right now that are causing us problems.
There seems to be a really odd fear at the Grand Lodge level that Masons will abuse it, so it has to be really tightly controlled. I think those fears are largely unjustified, and that we could deal with any abuse that occurs, but it seems to be there.
Secondly, we don't have enough Brothers putting their information into Grandview. This despite tremendous efforts to convince them to do so. Currently we have good contact information (other than mailing address) for only about half of our Brothers.
I think that we need to get to a point where when a man becomes an EA, he is led directly up to the Secretary's desk and made to enter his information. Otherwise he forgets. We could easily do this though, exactly as we lead a new MM up there to sign the bylaws.
Concerning leading the EA to do something the moment he's initiated, that goes to something else that will get new Masons engaged. The moment they become EAs we tell them that they are brothers, but we don't put them to labor as we ask of all brothers. I think EAs should be given roles in committees the moment they are told the ceremony of their initiation is concluded. You activate engagement. It's not something you can wait for.
I think this makes a lot of sense. If we can engage our EA's right away we will stand a better chance of keeping them active and involved after their degrees I think. In my experience, some Lodges do seem to do a good job with this, others not so much.
Since April or May, I've brought back a monthly trestle board for my lodge. It's a small thing, generally 2 pages long. But it has a message from the east, desk of the secretary and a calendar. I also try to put an interesting article up or message from the Deputy to the Grand Master in there. It takes maybe 1 hour of my day, once a month to make such a thing. I send it via email, because to print, stuff and stamp nearly 100 letters would take more time and be costly.
But maybe I should? What about the guys who don't get email. If I made something bigger, should I add an extra article or 2? Maybe I should make it a district trestle board and work with the Deputy? People have told me they like the idea, but would they actually read it or would it end up in the trash?
New Mexico has started using Grandview. I recieve no less then 2 emails from that Grand Lodge a week, telling me about things happening in the Jurisdiction or sharing cool stuff.
We definitely under utilize Grandview in my current Jurisdiction. Perhaps they could create and email a quarterly trestle board?
Your certainly correct, in that communication has stalled in the Jurisdiction overall.
A few thoughts...
It is awesome that you are bringing back the trestle board! I think that having one makes a tremendous difference, and with the continuing decline of Social Media, I think it is going to be truly essential quite soon.
There was a time, not all that long ago really, when local media (newspapers primarily) covered the happenings of community organizations in their area. Including Freemasonry. But, that went away along with the local paper, and we collectively ignored it. We ignore the declining reach of our posts on Social Media at our peril, because once it goes we have nothing left. Unless we build its replacement now, as you are doing.
Honestly, I don't really believe that we have members who don't have email. I remember, for years, I would go to our Annual Communication, and Brothers would stand up railing against whatever new technology the Grand Lodge was using. 'I don't have email.' 'I don't have a computer.' 'I don't have internet.' 'There isn't any internet where we live.' But, those guys would always crack me up, because I'd see them on Facebook. It isn't that they didn't have a computer, internet access, and email, it was that they didn't want to use email. All of that complaining did stop after the pandemic, when most were forced by circumstance to embrace Zoom.
But, your larger point is well taken. I know that Emeth doesn't reach nearly as many people as it could, because lots of Masons would never go out looking for such a thing. I've been thinking about having business cards printed with a QR code that would link into here. Maybe something like that could work in your situation?
Or an occasional Zine? Damn, I've always wanted to make a Zine. Print them in limited numbers, and charge a fee for each copy so that your costs were covered. A signed and numbered type of thing. 1/50 $10 and $1 for shipping.
Last night on Rummer & Grapes we were joined by a sitting Grand Master of another Jurisdiction. He too mentioned some ways Grandview is being utilized in his Jurisdiction that I think we would do well to pursue here. It is an awesome tool, if we will use it.
A zine is an interesting idea. Maybe I'll look into that.
I think that in this day of so much coming to us electronically, some people really value the tangible. And would be willing to pay for it. (Thus covering your/lodge costs.)
I really like the design of the Scottish Rite SJ's old magazine, the New Age. We have a really big collection of those at Centralia from a century ago. I think that 'look' could do really well for a Masonic focused Zine.
I don't know how to post a photo here in a comment, so I'll slide on over to Chat and put a photo of an old one there for you to see.
Of course, reading those really old New Age mags and comparing them to the current offerings shows just how far out communications have fallen over a century. Years ago I wrote a presentation about Freemasonry in Mexico, during the Mexican revolution. I used articles from those old magazines, published as the events were happening, for a lot of that research. The coverage of Masonry south of the border was truly extensive. Today we are lucky to learn what is happening state to state.
While I am sure that your experience with "nobody reads them" is valid, I for one am part of that outlier I guess, as I do read them when published. When they were printed, I was always disappointed that I could never find a copy. When it started arriving digitally, I was happier, but still preferred the printed versions - if I ever found one. I don't know who had them, our secretary never advertised that he had copies, and if it was the district deputy, they never said anything either.
Edited to add: I was always disappointed that our district deputies in the area almost never contributed to the newsletter as well.
It's also the same with the printed GL team photo poster. I know they exist, but I never see them anywhere. You would think GL would at least send a copy out to the lodges, but I've only seen a couple in my eleven years of masonry. I don't even know if they still make them. I would assume those posters were meant to match names with faces and the lodge was supposed to post them in the tyler's area or something. Didn't ever see any except perhaps once.
Why on earth weren't you in my District?
How it worked back then was the GL would mail a bunch of them to the DDGM's, and we were to take them to the Stated Meetings we attended, distributing them there.
I carried those things around for two years and couldn't pay people to take one.
I actually have a pretty distinct memory of one of my Lodge Brothers, W. Harwood. He was really, really old, and could be super ornery. But I remember he came up to me after a Lodge meeting at which I once again tried unsuccessfully to get people to take one. He took one, and said something about doing so in order to keep me from feeling bad.
That said, I always used to read them too. But, that's because I'm a weirdo who will read anything!
I don't know about the Team Photo Poster thing. I know that they used to be done here, but I don't know if they are still done here. I didn't have one during my term.
This is a fantastic piece, Cameron.
While I obviously cannot speak to Freemasonry specifically, my instincts tell me we are in a transitional phase when it comes to disseminating and consuming news. People are getting sick of (traditional?) social media, but are still not interested in returning to the (genuinely traditional) print outlets. As such, they are a bit in-limbo.
I think the answer is going to be in emailed newsletters, because they are convenient (everyone has at least one email address, after all) and people can get selective about whom they choose to trust. I also think they will be the answer to the dearth of locally-based news, and local journalists (and their fellow citizens) just need to catch up to that.
As such, while it may seem a little 'dry' right now, I think - with what you have here - you are not only in the prime position for the future, but to also successfully advise your fellow Freemasons... when they catch up with what you already know.
Humble opinion, of course :-)
My only issue is that with email, I have a hard time communicating with less tech savvy folks. It's maddening to me to send someone an email, never hear back, and when I next see them and ask them about it, they claim to have never saw it.
Now, as an IT specialist that manages my work's email system, I assure you that the mail was delivered. It may have been put is a spam folder, but I know they got it. They probably just deleted it without reading it.
Drives me nuts.
I understand that frustration, Glenn - it happens all the time to me with my own newsletter.
I do think, however, that many are still in the mode of treating their email like a junk-drawer instead of their desk-drawer (or tool-box), where they have items they actually need daily; at this point, they only really go into the junk-drawer when they need something from it, like how they treat email.
As they get more and more fed-up with social media, however, I think that mentality will shift, and they will start treating the email box with more attention. At least that is my hope, anyhow :-)
I'm not sure that we can assume that our open rates here on Substack are accurate. I never actually open any emails, but I read almost everything I receive. I just do it on the web instead.
The pandemic happened, and Chris and Ed and I were sitting around talking about how we could possibly communicate with the Craft while we weren't allowed to meet. I think it was Ed who suggested video and podcasting.
We all know that I'm far too goofy looking to want to do much video, and my voice is rather insane, so podcasting seemed out to me. Plus, I didn't know how to do those things. So, I decided to start a blog. I've blogged since the days when Blogger was the very height of technology, so I knew how to do that, and I figured I was good at it.
So, I snagged some good modern blogging software and had at it.
But then, shortly after I started said blog, our Grand Secretaries wife sent me an email she had received from a fairly famous media personality. And that's how I discovered this whole Substack thing. And how cool was that! A blog, with the posts flying out via email! Friggin' Awesome! So I moved the whole deal over here.
And I was content for a long time. I subscribed to the famous reporter whose report I'd been forwarded. And I subscribed to a handful of others that I encountered over time. It was great!
But, then the Substack people invented the Notes thing. And because I was a 'bestseller' here, they opened it up early to me.
And I started finding all of these superb writers. Amazing writers. So I subscribed, and subscribed, and subscribed, and subscribed some more.
Then they opened Notes up to everyone. And I found more great writers to subscribe too!
So, this is all a really long way of saying that I now understand the email pain. It's a rolling flood that never ends!
But, luckily the delete button is always handy. And needed, because I don't read all of the Substacks I subscribe to (105 as of today) in my email client, rather I read them on the web.
The thing is though, I would put much of the writing here on par quality wise with the most prestigious publications. There is some truly wonderful work being done here.
Thank you very much! I'm glad that you found value in the piece.
Ultimately, I think you are correct. This model, electronic newsletter delivery, supported by voluntary subscription revenue is the future. Not necessarily Substack (although it is by far the best platform for it at this point) but something that works very much like Substack.
Subscriptions to provide revenue, delivery via email, or web, or app. No reliance on advertising.
And I agree, it could work for local media too. Once the local reporters stop suffering for peanuts and embrace it!
We made a terrible error, collectively, when we decided long ago that the best way to pay for media was to allow platforms to take all our data. I think people are waking up to that now, and we will see more willingness to pay with dollars instead of privacy.
I've been pushing against a wall on this topic in my Lodge for quite some time now.
You're talking about communication at the Grand Lodge level, and I'm seeing problems just within the Lodge.
In my Lodge we send out a monthly Trestle Board newsletter (digital for the last few years) and a weekly (if not more often) email blast. The trestle board is likely never read by more than half of the Lodge members, and I'd give highly skewed odds that the email blasts aren't either. The reason is likely easy to pinpoint. Email is no longer useful as a communications tool - people get too much spam and as a result email gets ignored.
In an effort to counter this, I stood up a Slack server for my Lodge. I want this to be a place where the Officers and Committees can plan and work to improve the long-range work on the Lodge. Within 24 hours of setting up the server I had several brothers, particularly Past Masters, say what an unproductive waste of time it would be and how they were certain it wouldn't increase engagement.
So, I asked, "What, more of the same then?"
The answer, "The people who want to be involved are involved."
We're not going to focus on improving? We're not going to focus on teaching? We're not going to focus on trying to identify the things that might motivate people to pay attention to the communications?
The only way we can answer any of the questions above in a positive way is by constantly trying to meet people where they are and where they find value. If no one finds value anymore, then an email is useless to that person. Sure, others may find it useful, but not everyone. If Facebook, or Instagram or some other Social Media platform is the right place for engagement, then that's useful too. But when you want to get people involved in collaboration you need a place or a mechanism to collaborate, and that place can't be emails they won't read. It can't be social media where we don't want the world to know what we're doing to get ready for the annual parade, or we don't want to publicly discuss the Lodge's education charity or scholarship program.
We can't leave the collaboration to be done by those who "want to be involved" because those Brothers tend to be older, and the certain burden of time will eventually arrive for all of them. We have to find new ways to collaborate that work for modern workers who come to labor in our Temples.
Grandview is a great start for Grand Lodges sharing information, but that only works if your Grand Lodge is committed to sharing information well. That means aligning resources with the correct user types so that Master Masons can access a copy of the current Constitution and Statutes. That means setting permissions so that committee members can access the information they need on Lodge members. It means that the Grand Secretary dedicates himself to setting it up correctly every month as information changes. I know in my jurisdiction this is not being done well.
There is no one panacea for improving communication. We have to embrace a wide variety of tools to engage with our Lodges and Grand Lodges in ways that get information to every man wherever he is paying attention.
You are right, I was mainly writing this from a Grand Lodge perspective, but it certainly applies to individual Lodges as well. If we can't get our message out in an email that people will read, or a post that they will come across, we are in a real bad way. And it is getting worse.
I would argue that if an email is consistently compelling enough, people will read it. But, it has to be compelling, and that is hard to do.
But, I think that Lodges have other options. You mentioned Slack. I'm aware of Lodges using Telegram too. And I have to imagine that there are plenty of diverse platforms that result in private group meetings for collaboration.
But, Brothers have to be willing to sign up and join in. And as you say, that can be a real problem. I'm not sure how to solve it if a Mason says that he cares about the future of the Lodge, but is not willing to learn something new that will help to ensure a bright future for the Lodge. And indeed, our Second Degree implores us to be lifelong learners. Perhaps we need to emphasize that.
Switching to Grandview, I too think that my Jurisdiction could do a better job utilizing it. And, honestly, I think we will get there, eventually. But I see a couple big stumbling blocks right now that are causing us problems.
There seems to be a really odd fear at the Grand Lodge level that Masons will abuse it, so it has to be really tightly controlled. I think those fears are largely unjustified, and that we could deal with any abuse that occurs, but it seems to be there.
Secondly, we don't have enough Brothers putting their information into Grandview. This despite tremendous efforts to convince them to do so. Currently we have good contact information (other than mailing address) for only about half of our Brothers.
I think that we need to get to a point where when a man becomes an EA, he is led directly up to the Secretary's desk and made to enter his information. Otherwise he forgets. We could easily do this though, exactly as we lead a new MM up there to sign the bylaws.
Concerning leading the EA to do something the moment he's initiated, that goes to something else that will get new Masons engaged. The moment they become EAs we tell them that they are brothers, but we don't put them to labor as we ask of all brothers. I think EAs should be given roles in committees the moment they are told the ceremony of their initiation is concluded. You activate engagement. It's not something you can wait for.
I think this makes a lot of sense. If we can engage our EA's right away we will stand a better chance of keeping them active and involved after their degrees I think. In my experience, some Lodges do seem to do a good job with this, others not so much.